Second World

Jack and Arlcard came out from the house where Horatio teleported Jack after saving him from Emperor Marcus. Arlcard led the way. They were sneaking in the direction of the royal mausoleum. The two went on foot and via secluded alleys.

The capital had been put under curfew since the lockdown began. Very few civilians were wandering around. Most shops were closed and a lot of patrolling guards were on the street.

Jack was using a disguise and Arlcard could easily blend in as one of Sangrod's vampires, but they still took precautions and went through paths with the least number of people. Jack used his radar to avoid the patrolling guards.

Jack also used mana concealment in case there were unknown detection spells in effect. After he gained the Mana Affinity talent, his mana concealment also improved. He could now conceal his mana while moving. Mana concealment had been proven to be able to fool even the God-eye monocle's radar. So, he figured it should be able to fool detection spells as well.

After a couple of hours of sneaking around, they finally arrived at the city cemetery. It was quiet there. No one was around.

Jack continued following Arlcard into the cemetery. They came upon a huge structure surrounded by stone walls. The wall had only one gate and two vampire soldiers were guarding it. The soldiers were only level 60 elite grades, but Arlcard said that they had better not do anything to those guards.

The guards were replaced every few hours. If the replacement guards came and saw the two were gone, they would know something was up. He didn't believe whatever they needed to do down there could be settled in just a few hours.

Arlcard led Jack to the back and asked. "You have the teleportation spell, right?"

Jack nodded.

"Use it," Arlcard said. "Don't fly over the wall. There is a detection spell. If someone tried entering from above the wall, an alarm would sound. Teleportation is safe, though."

Finished talking, Arlcard cast a spell and he disappeared.

"He also has the teleportation spell. That guy has lots of skills and spells for a native," Jack remarked.

"That's a good thing, right?" Peniel said.

"I didn't say it's bad," Jack replied and started casting Teleportation.

He appeared past the wall behind the huge mausoleum structure. Arlcard was waiting for him there. The vampire gestured silently for Jack to follow.

They sneaked to the front of the structure. Arlcard opened the mausoleum's door slowly so as to not make any sound to alert the guards outside the wall. He held the door and gestured for Jack to enter.

Jack was still wondering where was the rune diagram that denied Arlcard entry. When he entered the mausoleum. He saw it then. There was a slanted door in the middle of the floor. A large rune diagram was on the floor surrounding that door.

Arlcard slowly closed the front door. Only after the door was closed that he spoke again. "That is the door to the mausoleum's basement. I need to get in there."

"You are still not telling me what you are after down there?" Jack asked, to which Arlcard replied with silence.

Jack didn't push the vampire for an answer. He was observing the rune diagram with both his eyes and mana sense.

"Doesn't seem too complicated," Jack said after a while. "Well, not for my current ability, of course. I say this sealing rune diagram is a bit simpler than the one that held Pandora. It should only take me a few minutes to unravel it."

Jack went to work then, sensing and moving the nodes to depower the rune diagram. Arlcard watched in silence while guarding the entrance.

It was as Jack expected. The rune diagram shimmered and disappeared after around fifteen minutes.

"Won't they get suspicious if they find the sealing rune diagram has gone?" Jack asked Arlcard.

"No one enters this mausoleum unless they suspected a forced entry. We have made sure we are undetected when we enter. We should be safe."

Arlcard went to the slanted door. Both he and Jack didn't sense anything from the door. He opened it then. Behind the opened door were staircases down to the basement.

"Let's go," Arlcard said and headed down.

"Okay, boss," Jack replied and followed in.

They came to a large square basement with nothing in it except for a door on one of the walls. The two went to that door. They sensed nothing so they opened it. Behind the door was nothing but void.

"A portal?" Jack asked.

Arlcard paused for a bit before he said, "Let's enter."

He went through the portal.

Peniel said, "I guess we met your rival in blindly going into uncharted places."

"This is his quest, he probably knows what is behind this portal," Jack said.

"His face doesn't show that he knows," Peniel replied.

"Well, let's not get left behind into the uncharted place then," Jack said and entered the portal.

Coming out on the other side, Jack found it to be the same large square hall. Except it was not the same. This hall had three doors. One from which they came from, another two on different walls.

"Which one?" Jack asked Arlcard who was standing there staring at the two doors.

It took him almost a minute before saying, "This one." He walked towards the door.

"He just randomly picks one, doesn't he?" Jack said to Peniel.

"As I said, your rival," Peniel replied.

They entered the next door and came to a similar hall again, except it was not empty this time. There were three skeleton warriors there. Jack used his Inspect and found that they were level 76 elite grades.

They were the same level as Arclard but since they were only elite grades and only three, they were not a menace. Jack summoned Therras so it could get the exp points as well. The three of them quickly destroyed those skeleton warriors. The monsters didn't drop anything when they died but they did give exp points and souls.

This time, all the walls had a door. A total of four doors including the one they had entered from.

"I think this is a procedurally generated maze dungeon," Jack said.

"What is that?" Peniel asked.

"A maze that is formed randomly. If we go back up to the mausoleum and enter again, I bet we will find these halls to have a different setup of doors."

"Like the Daedalus Labyrinth?" Peniel said.

"Yes. But this one is simpler. This place was composed of only square halls and doors," Jack answered. "Since it was that way, we won't know which one is the right door. We can only try our luck through these doors until we find whatever we are here to find."

"That's right. Let's continue," Arlcard said.

"Okay, boss," Jack repeated his remark.